Move to a care home? It would be like going back to a PoW camp
Son blasts council as 100,000 sign petition to keep WWII hero, 96, in his home of 46 years
AS a young prisoner of war, he survived the brutality of the Nazi ‘death march’ across europe.
Now 96-year- old Robert Clark is engaged in a different sort of battle after a council refused to increase funding he needs for a live-in carer.
It means the Second World War veteran could be forced out of his home of nearly 50 years and into a care home – a move his son describes as ‘like going back into a prisoner of war camp’.
More than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for Mr Clark to be allowed to stay in his house. But despite his war record, the council insists he cannot be treated as a special case.
Yesterday his son Mike Clark, 58, who runs an executive coaching business, said: ‘He fought for the freedom of this country – without people like him Brent Council wouldn’t even exist. How can they treat him like this? It’s inhumane.’
His father was a gunner in the Durham Light Infantry when he was captured by the Nazis in the North African city of Tobruk in June 1942. He spent the rest of the war in prison camps in Poland, before being forced to join the ‘ death march’ in 1945. Hitler ordered thousands of PoWs to march west for four months in extreme winter weather as the Russians advanced from the east.
After the war, the soldier married his sweetheart Rita and worked as a carpenter. In 1969 the couple moved into the house where he still lives in Burnt oak, north London. Mrs Clark died in 2010 aged 91.
Now a great-great-grandfather and one of Britain’s oldest surviving PoWs, Mr Clark is registered blind, deaf in one ear and is dependent on a wheelchair. For the past two years he has used his £50,000 savings to pay towards a £ 960- a- week live- in carer, while Brent Council contributed £350 a week.
But as his money runs out, the council is refusing to increase its funding and Mr Clark may have to go into a care home instead. His son, who said his home in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, is not suitable for the pensioner, added: ‘This is causing my father to be very anxious and he is unable to sleep. We have enough money to pay for around three more months of care but we have no idea what is going to happen after. We are not looking for a lot of money just for the council to do the right thing.
‘He’s as good as told me that if he has to move, he’ll just give up on life. Whenever he’s been in hospital, he … pulls the blankets over his head and stops talking.
‘He hates being anywhere which isn’t familiar … going into a care home will be like going back into a prisoner of war camp.’
The council’s Phil Porter said: ‘We recognise Mr Clark’s contribution to this country and sincerely empathise with the situation that he and other older people … are in.
‘However … the care package that Mr Clark is choosing is not affordable to council taxpayers given the constraints of local government funding and the need to be consistent for the 2,900 people we support.’
He added: ‘ Mr Clark owns his home, so there is absolutely no question of Brent Council evicting him despite what has been suggested in this petition.’
The council said Mr Clark’s needs can be met in a care home for £451 a week. Alternatively, he could choose to receive the same weekly sum and stay at home, but would have to pay the extra amount necessary for a carer.
Mr Porter said: ‘We want to find a solution which meets his eligible social care needs, provides value for money for the taxpayer, but also reflects the choices he has made and the additional cost this creates.’
He added that the council had offered ‘ a deferred payment which means he doesn’t need to sell his house to pay for his care’.
Mr Clark’s family reported the case to the Local Government ombudsman, but the watchdog agreed with the council.
‘Hates anywhere unfamiliar’
He fought for the freedom of this country – without people like him Brent Council wouldn’t even exist. How can they treat him like this?
Mr Clark’s son Mike